Chinese Views of Future Warfare [Paperback]

United States (Author), Michael Pillsbury (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0160612225 | ISBN-13: 978-0160612220 | Publication Date: September 17, 1998 | Edition: Revised

"Michael Pillsbury's new book ... is must reading for every executive of every Western firm doing business in China, and every Member of Congress.... Readers will be impressed ... by China's ambitions in space, information warfare, stealth, and robots, in future warfare.... No one with serious interests in East Asia can afford not to have read this book." Robert Ellsworth, former Deputy Defense Secretary "American relations with the People's Republic of China have now become the single most critical bilateral relationship in the world. On it rests the stability of East Asia, and it represents the most significant challenge to the effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy, Yet far too little is known about China, and in particular how the Chinese military think about the future. Michael Pillsbury has performed a signal service in selecting, translating, and interpreting these revealing and hard-to-obtain writings by senior Chinese officers, The reader is in for a surprise. Rather than parading the tired slogans of People's War, these analysts examine a military future marked by 'information deterrence', 'crippling attacks on information systems' and similar notions and by a search for 'new measures of effectiveness.' The future remains uncertain, but the best preparation-- as Sun Tzu might say-- is to understand the mind of those with whom we must deal." James Schlesinger, former Director of Central Intelligence and former Secretary of Defense "This book reflects the keen interest that its sponsor, the Director of Net Assessment, Andy Marshall, has shown in Chinese views of a potential revolution in military affairs. The translation and publication of these articles enhance our understanding of how some of China's authoritative military strategists see the revolution in military affairs in the 21st century." William Perry former Secretary of Defense

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 471 pages
• Publisher: For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office; Revised edition (September 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0160612225
• ISBN-13: 978-0160612220
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,523,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Playing to the gallery, November 22, 2004

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A_2007_reader (Vladivostok, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Views of Future Warfare (Paperback)

These Rand-type publications are basically for specialists speaking to specialists in their own field (defense analysis). As such, their relevance, impact and even credibility are suspect. Who can have predicted China would be the standard for Communist market reform in the 1980s? Who predicted Russia would collapse in the 1990s? Not the specialists, who basically linearly project and use least-squares analysis (read: continuity) for their predictions.

A must read only if you are embedded in the military-industrial complex.